Ampersand's High Mobility part 1

Back in the late 1970s/early 1980s the US Army was looking for a replacement for its Mutt general purpose vehicle. The Army had been operating Jeep-like vehicles since before WWII and decided that it needed to have something that was a bit newer. Proposals were sent out and the competition among entries (which were all quite similar) was awarded to AM General of South Bend, Indiana.

The resultant vehicle was relatively fast, was quite sturdily built, had excellent ground clearance, a powerful engine and was designed to go through rather deep water and over rough terrain. In otherwords, a militarized off-road vehicle. The basic vehicle, which most everyone calls a Humm-Vee or Hummer, has room for four along with radios and a small rear section for equipment stowage. It also has a soft top that is held in place by metal hoops and canvas doors for operation in inclement weather.

Naturally, the vehicle became more than a simply carry-all for troops and has evolved over the years to something much greater than what it started out to be. There are ammo carriers, ambulances, mobile workshops, and a variety of armored vehicles. This latter requirement came about thanks to experience in the sand pit of Iraq and later in Afghanistan where roadside bombs destroyed many vehicles and killed or maimed a large number of soldiers. All this additional armor required an improved engine to provide more power and several other variants with metal upper body sections, turrets, and even ground to air weapons was developed. Today's Hummer looks very much like the initial versions, but is very much a different vehicle.

This book by David Doyle takes a look at many different variations of the vehicle, but there are so many that this is just the first volume. Covered in this are the M1038, M1025, M1044, Avenger, M997, M1115A1, M1165A1, and M1152A1 with B2 SECM. Yeah, jargon rears its ugly head, but this is all explained.

Typical of the series there is a short historical background and the rest of the book is walkaround images. We get the most detail on the M1038 and the other types concentrate on what is different between them and the base model. All the photos are superbly done and the printing is nice and crisp so you can see detail. After all, this is a detail book as much as anything else. It all makes for a most interesting read for those of us who know little about the subject and helps to unravel some of the mysteries about the vehicle itself and its permutations. A super read and a book that every enthusiast needs to have.

June 2015

Review copy courtesy Ampersand Publishing. Get yours today at this link.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and fairly quickly, please contact the editor or see other details in the Note to Contributors.